(Originally posted at Redeemed Reader on July 27, 2013) The Larklight Trilogy, by Philip Reeve, decorated throughout by David Wyatt: Larklight (2006), Starcross (2007), Mothstorm (2008). Bloomsbury, each approx. 400 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grade, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-up. Ten-year-old Arthur Mumby, his irritating teenage sister Mytle, and their absent-minded father are minding their own business at Larklight, their earth-orbiting home, when they suddenly find themselves playing host to an invasion of spiders. Not the kind you can whack with a rolled-up newspaper, but enormous creatures with “bodies as large as elephants’, and legs as long as trees.” In short order these creatures have disabled the gravity generator…

Editor’s Note: “Starred reviews” are a guideline for librarians figuring how to spend the budget for the children’s section. (We take particular notice of them too, when figuring how to budget our reviewing time!) Are they always a good indicator? How Are Books Chosen for the Library? Originally published on the Tumblon website September 9, 2009 If about ten thousand books are printed each year for children and young adults, how in all the world of reading does a librarian or a committee choose which books to buy for their shelves? Or book buyers for stores find a way to choose? I’ve wondered about that myself in the past. First…

(Originally published at Redeemed Reader on May 27, 2013) Aside from the beach, nothing says “summertime” and “American” more than a game of baseball, complete with hot dog, iced beverage, bleachers, and the elusive foul ball dropping into the stands. Our local Minor League team has great promotions all summer that include regular fireworks, $1 hot dog night, bring-your-dog night, and many more. AND, they sponsor their own summer reading challenge which results in … you guessed it… free tickets to the games! Let’s play ball! 9 Books About Baseball: one for each inning Next best thing to a great game of baseball are great baseball books. Here’s a Librarian’s…

(Originally published on Redeemed Reader September 21, 2015) Some places we visit once as tourists. Once we have a souvenir, have checked off the “must see” locales, and perhaps eaten a signature food, we’re off to the next experience. Other places call us back, over and over, for return visits. A beach house every summer, a cabin in the mountains every fall, a grandparents’ farm on holidays. The collective memories we have from repeated visits to a beloved place shape our perceptions of other, similar locales. “This reminds me of….” or “These tomatoes are good, but not as good as the ones on the farm.” Books are the same: some…

(Originally published at Redeemed Reader on June 1, 2012) We think of summertime as beach days, catch-up-on-our-reading days, vacation days, camp days (more on that next week)—but what about make-a-budget or start-a-business days?  Economics and all its outriggers (like business), is a subject that gets bumped in favor of more traditional school fodder like algebra, world history, American literature, and chemistry.  For a subject that has immediate impact on every adult’s daily life, economics gets a very short shrift.  At some point in their growing-up years, kids should get a firm grip on money: what it is, how it works, and how to make it.  Two recent books and an…